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The Turavids
The Turavids, they once ruled the stars and all that lay between them under the rule of their beneficent autarchs as one of the Grand Peoples. Having peaked around 3000 years ago, the Turavids by the modern era are a mere shadow of their former selves, barely retaining five percent of their peak population and a handful of noncontiguous colonies, all of which fall either under Gjork enslavement or the Atsadi-Turavid alliance. It remains to be seen if the Turavids will rise from the ashes. Biology : Undifferentiated Turavid biology is relatively human-like, with very few discernable differences externally aside from a tendency towards lighter frames, angular features, and pointy ears. Their primary trait and the one that has made them so successful is their ability to adapt to nearly any environment within their first nine months of life. Variants :: It would be impossible to describe the number of Turavid variants in the galaxy, with each individual a variant subrace unto itself. However the common paths of their adaption do result a few varieties of recognizable subspecies. The Vido ::: Common among arboreal, temporate climates, the Vido are slightly shorter than humans and feature copper-toned skin. Due to only having minor, almost unmentionable adaptions, they're often considered the baseline for Turavid physiology. The Squat ::: Living on high-gravity worlds and in subterranean situations, the Squats are just that, squat. They're rarely much more than 1,2 metres tall and feature larger than average eyes which reflect light back out through the retinas. The Akwe ::: An aquatic, relatively common adaption, the Akwe feature a lengthened body and little hair in addition to webbed hands and a fused, mermaid-like tail. The Tur ::: Rare in their colonies, the Tur are among the most common Turavid strains on Rosarius II. Specialized for desert life, they're discernable by their long scales giving them an almost avian appearance. Diet : Turavid diets are omnivorous much like humans, but with a greater focus on meat which easily makes up eighty percent of their intake. What plant matter they do intake, is far more likely to be fruit than grain due to lacking lengthy digestive tracts. Reprduction The Turavids are the second-fastest reproducing intelligent species in the galaxy behind the Gjork, always giving birth to twins after a gestation period of only six months followed by a short eight month downtime. Their means of courtship are similar enough to those of Earth for infertile interspecies romance; however those under the Gjork rarely if every marry outside of prearranged marriages within their species. Culture : The Turavids once possessed the largest and most varied culture in the entire galaxy, with several thousand major languages, art forms dating back to their bronze age, and architects that prided themselves in their ability to work with the environment instead of countering it. Other major cultural works included their animistic religion, Turam'va which has since become all but extinct outside of folk-practice with few if any higher-level clergy surviving Nef'ludwan. : Since the shattering of the last vestiges of their dreams for a once more united Turavid empire, there has been little independent civilian development of Turavid culture. Those living inside Gjork territory have largely been forcibly assimilated into Gjork culture, while those part of the predominately Atsadi Atsadi-Turavid alliance have had some success in influencing a newly arisen blend of cultures with their partner races. : The remnants of their navy in the service of the Atsadi do carry on some of their original culture, with their own exarch and grandoise espit de corps. While they contributing very little in the way of conventional culture, they keep their military traditions alive and produce numerous war ballads which have become popular among alliance militaries and anti-Gjork Turavid resistance movements. Military : Once the pride of an empire, the Turavid military fights on in the Turavid Exilarchy and is still the second largest full-time military in the galaxy behind the Gjork. They achieve this by mandatory conscription of every third person for a period of eight years, while often seen as a harsh demand on their populace by outsiders, most within their culture volunteer for the incredibly necessary task of protecting what little remains of their race. Navy :: Prior to Nef'ludwan, only the Atsadi could claim to have a navy capable of even posing a threat to Turavid ships. Despite their many losses following the disaster, much more of the Turavid navy did survive than other sections of their society and they continue to field a varied fleet with retrofitted ships dating all the way back to before their civil war. Its central doctrine tends to focus on balanced fleet deployments weighted towards battleships and heavy cruisers. The Gallu :: Initially a marine-type of soldier used aboard ships to protect against boarding and secure landing zones, the Gallu have evolved to be the mainstay of the Turavid infantry. Trained in both ship and land combat they specialize in orbital drops and other shock tactics to overwhelm their enemy. While other infantry divisions exist, such as the Noric, none see the degree of use and recognition as the Gallu. Weaponry :: Turavid weaponry remains a mixed affair. With limited supply lines and years of division, many of their ship weapons were constructed on a per-unit basis, resulting in relatively little standardization. Some newer units feature Atsadi-derived laser based weaponry, while others rely heavily on missiles and mass drivers. Their infantry fights primarily with railgun-type weapons, but even these often vary unit to unit or even between individuals of the same squad. While expensive and inefficent strategically, this has in some situations granted them a certain strength with each unit knowing exactly what their abilities are and their enemies frequently having no idea what they're capable of. Homeworld The Turavid homeworld of Cavalon, sitting just inside the border of Gjork-controlled systems, is a lush garden world with slightly lower gravity than Earth. With its beautiful oceans, rocky coasts, soaring mountains, and ancient forests the planet is one home to almost every sort of creature imaginable, except Turvids. All eleven billion of those living on the planet were either killed, enslaved, or evacuated during the tragedy of Nef'ludwan in the human year 1939. Ever since, the planet has served as symbol of Gjork power as they hold the world hostage, ready to bombard it from orbit if the Turavids within their borders rebel. Pre-Turavid civil war history Arising from Cavalon to the stars before 1000BCE, the Turavids enjoyed almost a thousand years of peace, unity, and isolation. With no other races expanding beyond their solar systems, The Turavids expanded to colonize the majority of the galaxy and reached a population in the trillions. Even sending off some of the only intergalactic colonization fleets ever created. Despite having lost contact with them, many Turavids still place faith that their colonists survive in other galaxies, continuing their proud empire. Their dreams of an eternal harmoneous empire were shattered following the Heresy of Gren, who split the house of autarchs between himself and his sister in 37BCE following the anouncement that she would ascend to be autarch rather than him. Despite early attempts at a reunited empire under one or the other and even a brief dual-autarchy, by 28CE the empire had broken out into all out civil war split between the reformist dissidents led by Autarch Gren and the traditionalist loyalists led by the House of Autarchs and Autarch Lumini. Turavid civil war era The Turavid civil war remains the bloodiest known conflict in galactic history and includes the two greatest losses of life in galactic history: Nef'tudor and Nef'ludwan. This era of Turavid history is known for its decay of cultural and technological progress, with entire fields of science lost to the Turavids. Though exact casualty counts are impossible to determine for non-Turavids, estimated total Turavid deaths due to direct involvement in the war reach as high as 1,4 trillion across the nearly 2000 years of war. This number does not include however, the number of deaths due to supply shortages, sabotage, terrorist attacks, and minor conflicts. Throughout this era entire races were driven extinct as both sides would uplift them for use as auxilleries or stage battles on and around their planets. Despite the darkness of this era, many races did survive and went on to form part of the Atsadi-Turavid alliance. Post-Nef'ludwan history Following Nef'Ludwan in 1939, the House of Autarchs was effectively wiped out as well as the House of Gren, leaving the Turavids without centralized government. Within the next few years the Gjork rapidly expanded and assumed control of many of the few remaining major Turavid colonies and were poised to dominate the entire race. Until the Atsadi intervened with the creation of the Atsadi-Turavid alliance and were able to produce a crushing string of defeats for the Gjork military and force the first armistace of the Gjork wars. It was at the first armistace talks during which the Turavids in the alliance were referred to as the "independent Turavids", marking the first Turavid government in over 2000 years to not be at war with another Turavid nation. Though relatively weak and depleted, the independent Turavids, formally under name "the Turavid Exilarchy" have been on the rise since their inception and by the Battle of Rosarius have liberated roughly 18 percent of their pre-Nef'ludwan colonies. However, most of these colonies remain effectively empty, with their populations brought back towards the core worlds of the alliance to protect them and aid in population growth.